St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-19
The Sea of Fire Rolled in Remorseless
Waves Up a Central Corridor to
the Roof,
And developed in its Awful Embrace the
Agonized and Utterly Helpless
Victims.
Gallant Work Done by the Firemen
in Rescuing the Endangered
Guests.
Frightful Leaps for Ltfe--A Partial
List of the Dead and
Wounded.


uOnd hotel and st. James hall were burned
early this meIning. \ number of lives
We're lost and many people were injured.
The building is situated at the corner OF
Main and Eagle streets, extending through
to Washington street. The fire was dis
covered III $50 o'clock i'll the new Richmond
hotel An alarm was sounded and the fire
department responded promptly. The
house contained 4 large number of guests,
and their heartrending shreks could plainly
be heard Ladders were raised as soon as
possible and as many as could were taken
out. \ number of them were unable to
effect their escape. At O'clock the entire
Richmond. st. James hall and other prop
erty in the block We're doomed to speedy
destruction. The whole place burned like
finder. The corridor in the center of the
building
ACTED As \ GREAT FUNNEL,
and the haWeS streamed upwards. The
guests found themselves imprisoned by
walls of fire. The screams of the nnfortu
mates could be heard for blocks. and at
many of the windows they could be seen in
their night clothes calling wildly for help.
Al one of the third floor windows two
guests were seen by the crowd to tall back
from the fifth floor to the roof Of a two
story building adjoining. He was seriously
injured. The rapidity of the fire, cutting
off means of escape. led some persons to
leap for life from the windows. Others got
down the fire escapes or on ladders raised
by the department. The ShriekS and cries
Of the people in the upper stories Of the
burning structure were heartrending. One
man. mad with terror. Ieaped from third
story window and was picked up from the
stone sidewalk Oh Main street
MANGLED AND BLEEDING CORPSE.
Several who succeeded in making their
escape were badly injured and burned and
some Of these will probably die. Que: s,
more fortunate, escaped with slight injur-
;as. Robert Stafford, senior proprietor of
the hotel, with his wife occupied rooms on
the second floor and had narrow escape.
Terror overcame everybody, and even those
Who escaped in safety were in many cases
Or ostrated by their awful experiences.
There were 125 persons in the Motel. sew
enty of whom were transient guests. eight
OUarders and the remainder being porters
and bell boys, the families of the proprie-
tors and clerks. Twenty-Five of these were
rescued from the windows by the tiremen,
twenty-five are at the hospitals and a large
number made their escape by other means.
THE SPREAD OF THE FLAMES
was frighttul in its rapidity. The elevator
shaft served as a tlue for the flames and
they rushed up to the top floor in few
moments. AS the guests were aroused and
saw the interior exits cut off they turned to
the windows. They could be seen in their
night clothes standing out clear and vivid
before the lurid background of the flames.
Their screams were horrible to hear and
they could be heard for blocks. The flames
spread to the southeast side Of the hotel
first The firemen did noble work and con-
fined the fire to the narrow limits of the
buildings named. The work Of rescue had
many exciting incidents. The telegraph
wires We're, as usual. in the way of the
ladder brigade, and much valuable time was
lost in getting the ladders past them
Perhaps the most thr ling escape
Of any was that of Pres Whitta-
ker step-son Of Proprietor Stafford. He
roomed on the fifth story and whe II aroused
stepped 20 the window and looked down
for few seconds Then he
DELIBERATELY DRESSED HIMsLLF,
and emerging from the window, stood on
the stone Gaping above the window be-
meath. From this Gaping he stepped to
theneXt one along the front Of the building,
and proceeded in this manner to the Hayes
truck and ladder at the other extremity of
the front. The nerve and GOODNESS dis
played were remarkable.
Among the brave deeds of the tiremen
was one deserving of special mention. Dis
trict Engineer Edward Murphy was on a
ladder reScuing some of the occupants of
the hotel. At all upper story window was
one of the female dOmeSticS. He shouted
to her to remain where she was and ne
would come up and save her. The poor
creature. frantic with terror. instead of
Obeying, leaped from the window and
literally threw herself at Murphy. This
caused him to lose his balance on the ladder,
but he hung on with one hand and caught
the girl around the neck, holding her firm ly
until he could regain his equilibrium, VIII ell
he slid down the ladder bearing her safe to
the ground. Among the guests at the Rich
mOnd last night was a party OF Insurance
men numbering q dozen or more, who had
come to Buffalo to adjust the losses Of theil
companies on the Miller, Creiner 4 Co. fire.
The following is
y CORRECT LIST
of this party: Col j. F. Bassett and Mr..
Crane, of the -Etna Insur rance company, Of
Hartford, Conn; VI. o. Dennis, of the
Royal Insurance company. Of England; w.
5. Dewey, of the Hartford Insurance com
pany. of Hartford. Conn: w. Dubers. OF
the Commercial Union company; c. A
FnrneSS, of the Liverpool. London Il Globe
W. p. Land. of the Phoenix company, Of
Hartford; W. J. Mackay, of the
Springfield Insurance company; L. S. Nor
gan, of the Home Insurance company;
j. 7. McCurdy. of the Continental com
panY; 0. W. Palmer, of the Franklin com.
pany. of Philadelphia; II. b. Smith. of the
North British and Mercantile company
James II. Van Buren,, of the Connection
company; W. H. Van Every, of the West
chester company; Willard Welch. of tht
City of London Insurance company. The
new hotel. christened the Richmond" fur
nished and decorated with rare taste an(
elegance, was opened for business on Feb
20, less than month ago. When thu
tenants on the first floor moved out on MAY
/. the additional room gained would have
been turned into an Office and cafe, and thu
hotel. when settled, was expected to b.
uncommonly attractive and popular. One
of the most admired features of the Rich
mond was the ''rotunda," so called, rec
tangular
OPEN COURT
N the middle of the building covered by
,kvlight. 1t was pleasant place for the
guests to gather-galleries are in the 70
funda on each floor-and visitors said i
reminded them of some of the finest O
Southern hotels which had this feature
The main starways and two elevator
clustered around this court and when the